Manning revealed secret on his friendship with Brady

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are perhaps the greatest quarterback rivals in NFL history.

It seemed fitting that Brady’s first NFL start came against Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3 of the 2001 season.

The New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts were division rivals for a year (the Colts were formerly in the AFC East), but they ended up meeting each other regularly as a result of division championships and deep playoff runs almost every season. Brady and Manning faced off 17 times, with Brady going 11-6 versus Manning.

Brady went 9-3 against Manning during the regular season, while Manning went 3-2 against Brady in the playoffs. The two quarterbacks won nine Super Bowls and eight league MVP honors.

Why were Brady and Manning so successful? Manning confessed during Brady’s farewell address that the two had worked out together in the offseason.

“I said, ‘Tom, let’s get together, go under the radar, and don’t tell anyone we’re coming in.'” Tom flies in on Mr. Kraft’s plane,” Manning stated as the surprise visitor at Brady’s retirement party on Wednesday, according to the Indianapolis Star. We lifted weights together. We got together with these high school receivers. We took away their phones.

“We said, ‘If you tell anybody that Tom Brady and I are working out together, and that we’re friends, we’re going to kill all of you.'”

Peyton Manning came out to surprise @TomBrady at his Patriots HOF ceremony ❤️

(via @Patriots)pic.twitter.com/YP5gbpnWPk

— NFL (@NFL) June 13, 2024

Brady and Manning had a nice laugh during the celebration, reminiscing about their playing days. Brady leads the all-time throwing touchdowns list (649), while Manning is third (539). Brady also leads in passing yards (89,214), while Manning ranks third (71,940). Brady also leads in fourth-quarter comebacks (46) and Manning is second (43).

Brady and Manning have a long-standing connection, one that they didn’t want the world to know about when they were playing. Of then, the quarterback struggle would not have been considered a “rivalry” either.